1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a spout supply apparatus that supplies spouts and bags to which spouts are attached to, for instance, a spout sealing machine (that covers supplied spouts with bags and seals such spouts and bags by hot plates, etc.) and to a filling machine (that fills supplied bags to which spouts are attached with contents).
2. Description of the Related Art
Part feeders are widely used in cases where spouts are supplied to a spout sealing machine. In part feeders, spouts (see FIGS. 13A and 13B) are held from both sides thereof by rails (that fit into grooves c between flanges a and b of a spout) and conveyed while lined up in a single row in a vertical state, at least in the vicinity of the terminal end of the part feeder. In the spout S shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, d indicates a sealing portion, and h indicates a head.
When the spout S is conveyed, by way of setting the direction of length (the left-right direction in FIG. 13A and the direction perpendicular to the drawing sheet in the case of FIG. 13B) of the flanges a and b of the spout S to face in the conveying direction of the spouts, it is possible to increase the treatment (conveying) capacity and to obtain a stable conveying state of the spouts. Accordingly, it is desirable that the spouts S be conveyed in this orientation. Similarly, in cases where bags to which spouts are attached are conveyed on rails (the places supported by the rails are the same as in the case of conveying the spouts), the direction of width of the bags W (see the imaginary lines in FIGS. 13A) is set to be parallel to the conveying direction for a better treatment (conveying) capacity and a stable conveying state of the spouts.
Furthermore, inside the spout sealing machines as well, it is desirable that the continuously or intermittently conveyed spouts be held so that the direction of length of the flanges a and b faces in the conveying direction of the spouts. For example, if the spout sealing machine is a rotary type machine, this means that the direction of length of the flanges faces in the tangential direction. In this case, the bag surfaces are oriented parallel to the conveying direction as a result, so that treatments such as the sealing of the bags, printing on the bag surfaces, etc. can easily be performed.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2001-353793 and 11-333950, spouts are set, in a spout sealing machine, to be held so that the direction of length of the flanges faces in the conveying direction.
In cases where a part feeder is installed adjacent to a spout sealing machine, it is desirable that the part feeder be disposed so that the conveying direction of the part feeder and the spout conveying direction of the spout sealing machine differ by 90 degrees. The reason for this is as follows: since various types of processing devices are ordinarily installed in succession along the spout conveying direction in a spout sealing machine, spatial interference between the part feeder and such various types of processing devices can be avoided by adopting such a layout; and the space around the spout sealing machine can be effectively utilized.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2001-353793 and 2001-293798, a layout is adopted so that the conveying direction of a part feeder and the spout conveying direction of a spout sealing machine differ by 90 degrees.
In order to satisfy the above-described three desirable configuration (orientation of the spouts in the part feeder, orientation of the spouts in the spout sealing machine and installation positions of the spout sealing machine and part feeder), it is necessary to alter the orientation of the spouts by 90 degrees when the spouts that are fed out from the part feeder are supplied to the spout sealing machine. In the above-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2001-353793, a transfer device is disposed between the part feeder and the spout sealing machine, and the orientation of the spouts is altered by this transfer device.
Meanwhile, there are cases in which a so-called W type (the expression “W type” is used in the sense of treating two spouts at the same time) spout sealing machine is required in order to increase the treatment capacity of the spout sealing machine. Even though the treatment capacity of the spout sealing machine is doubled in the W type machine, the part feeder generally has an even greater capacity. Accordingly, by branching only the terminal end of the part feeder into two rows, it is possible to achieve the simultaneous supply of two spouts to two adjacent spout clamping portions of a W type spout sealing machine by means of a single part feeder. In the above-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2001-293798, though there are differences between spouts and ports, two ports are simultaneously supplied to a spout sealing machine by causing the terminal end part of a part feeder to branch into two rows.
However, in cases where the orientation of the spouts is altered by 90 degrees, it is necessary to install transfer devices that can alter the orientation of the spouts by 90 degrees at the respective terminal ends of the two rows of spouts. As a result, an increase in cost and an increase in the complexity and size of the spout sealing machine are unavoidable.